Lentil Curry Soup with Chapati Triangles

It must be admitted that lentils are fast becoming one of my favourite foods. Even four years ago I wouldn’t even have considered eating them, and now really can’t get enough. Like potato they take on so much flavour, and are extremely healthy. This, in my opinion, makes them more suitable for spice-based dishes than chicken will ever be. Of course chicken has its virtues, but short of marinating it for 24-hours – which is a faff – in a dish like this it really becomes plain chicken surrounded by spices.

Filling chapatis is also a great idea – usually they just serve as a vessel for your main dish. Yet, by adding to them a few cheap ingredients they really become part of the meal. This makes them a truly great – and cheap – replacement for flavoured rice.

Oh, I must also mention that we are embarking on some kind of pan-Asian cookathon-week. Put simply, that means we’re going to be cooking Asian food all week. This has been inspired by a recent trip to Tampopo – take care not to mispronounce when recommending – which, by the way, is an amazing restaurant. I’m really looking forward to this because up until now most of my stir-fry dishes etc… have really only included the most basic of east-Asian ingredients. I’ll make sure the results get posted up on here, followed by a number of recipes. Don’t get too excited though – I just tried to make onion bhajis for the first time. It did not go well.

1. Fry the onions until translucent in a little oil. Add the spice mix and cook for a further minute. Add the lentils and mix thoroughly.

2. Add the vegetable stock little by little, cooking it in each time. Don’t let the lentils stick; this requires a fairly high heat. Allow perhaps 30 minutes for this process.

3. In order to make the chapatti triangles sandwich half the spring onion and cheese in between two chapatis. Dry fry this in a pan until the cheese melts, before cutting into triangles.

4. Season to taste. The lentils are cooked, in my opinion, when they’re just past al-dente. However, you can continue cooking them if you prefer them mushier. Serve in a bowl with a wedge of lemon and natural yoghurt.

Cost: If one makes one’s own chapatis, which one should, this meal should cost around £1 for both portions. Very reasonable indeed.